The Story of the Kregel Windmill Company: Part 1

Over the last couple years there have been a lot of requests from visitors for us to have some sort of tangible written history of the Kregel Windmill Company. We tend to have a large amount of information and stories in our heads that we tell during tours but there was never really a place where someone could go and read about the history of the company. Due to all of the requests, and a little bit of my own personal curiosity, I researched and wrote a paper for a recent history conference entitled The Kregel Windmill Factory Museum: Providing Water to the Great American Desert.  I'm proud to say that this paper won 3rd place overall in the undergraduate section of the conference and I now feel comfortable sharing it with you, the readers of the blog. The paper will be released on this page in multiple parts over the next month or two and I welcome any and all comments and questions about it. 
   So, without further ado, please enjoy the first part of The Kregel Windmill Company: Providing Water to the Great American Desert: